Market-refrigerator



(No Model.)

" F. M. HARRISON & J. W. KELLEY.

MARKET REFRIGERATOR.

Patented Oct. 12,1897.

.UNITED STATES A'lENT Fries.

FRANK M. HARRISON AND JAMES W. KELLEY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

MARKET-REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591 ,401, dated October 12, 1897.

Application filed December 14:, 1896. Serial No. 615,604. (No model.) i I i To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRANK M. HARRISON and J AMES W. KELLEY, citizens of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Market Ice-Boxes; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to.which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to ice-boxes or refrigerators such as are used by market-men for the storage of meats and other perishable articles. Hitherto such ice-boxes have been provided with a door through which a person could enter to remove the contents, and in hot weather when the meats were kept the greater portion of the time in the ice-box there was a great waste of cold air caused by.

opening and closing the door every time a piece of meat was removed. Again, as the ice-boxes have heretofore been commonly used it was necessary to bring the meat from the ice-box and place it on the meat-bench outside in the morning and carry it back at night, and possibly to repeat this operation many times during the day, depending on the amount of business done. and the state of the weather. We remedy these difficulties by providing a meat-bench which is ordinarily located inside the ice-box, but which may be drawn out through an opening in the side of the box, the opening being automatically closed by the act of drawing out the bench and being provided with a flexible curtain for checking the outward flow of cold air.

By the use of this device. the necessity of carrying the meat bodily from inside the refrigerator to the outside is prevented, and much cold air is saved through keeping the door and the opening through which the bench is drawn out closed. In our device the door which closes the opening through which the bench passes is utilized to form an extension to the bench after the same has been drawn out, and means are provided to prevent the escape of cold air while the bench is being drawn out.

We illustrate our invention by means of the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of an ice-box constructed according to our inventiomtaken on the line y y of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 00 a: of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a part vertical section inside the box, showing the curtains for closing the opening.

a A represents the ice-box or refrigerator, having a refrigerating-chamber R of any desired construction, the ice chamber or bunker not being shown. When not in use, the meatbench D rests on the supporting-track B within the ice-box. A similar track 0 is built outside of the box to form an extension of the track B, and the bench is adapted to slide or roll from the inside to the outside of the ice-box on these two tracks. Suitable rolls b, on which the bench immediately rests, are journaled to the tracks to provide an antifriction-bearing for the bench. An opening for the passage of the'bench is formed in the wall of the ice-box, and the opening is normally closed by a door'E, which is utilized to form an extension to the bench when the latter is drawn out. For this purpose the door E is hinged to the outer end of the bench by hinges g and a supporting-leg f is hinged to the door, which is also provided with a handle e. When the bench is drawn out,the door is carried along and turneddown to form an extension of the bench, the leg f being used'to support its outer end. In order to close the opening as far as possible when the bench is being drawn out and pushed in, we have a curtain I on the inside of the opening, said curtain being formed of canvas or other suitable material and being preferably made in sections, as shown.

' To close the opening through which the bench passes when the latter is drawn out, we form partition S on the rear end of the bench of suflicientsize to close the said opening. This partition'is provided with suitable packing '5, which comes against the inner surface of the ice-box when the bench is drawn out, making a tight joint. Hooks h are secured to this rear partition for convenience in hanging meats or other articles. The utility of our device will be recognized fromits construction. When the bench is not required in the shop,it rests in the refrigerator,with the opening tightly closed, and when it is to be used the handle 8 of the door is seized and the door E is drawn out, bringing with it the bench, the packing i automatically closing the opening. Vhen the bench is fully drawn out, the door E is turned down to form the extension of the bench. As the bench is drawn out or pushed in the curtain I serves to exclude the greater portion of the cold air, which would otherwise come out the lower ends of the various sections, drawing freely over the articles which rest on the bench. By using care in arranging the meat on the bench in line either crosswise or lengthwise of the bench the curtain will allow very little of the cold air to pour out as the bench is moved.

lVe claim- 1. lhe herein-described market ice-box having a refrigerating-chamber, a meat-bench normally located therein, a supporting-track in said chamber for supporting said bench, a continuation of said track outside of said iceb0x,said bench being adapted to slide or move longitudinally on said track, an opening in said ice-box to allow the passage of said bench, a partition on the outer end of said bench adapted to close said opening hinged to the outer end of said bench and adapted to turn down and form. a section thereof.

2. The herein-described market iee-boxhaving a refrigerating-chamber, a meat-bench normally located therein, a supporting-track in said chamber for supporting said bench and a continuation of said track outside of said ice-box, said bench being adapted to slide or move longitudinally on said track, an opening in said ice-box to allow the passage of said bench, a door for closing said opening, a partition on the rear end of said bench adapted to close said opening when the bench is drawn out and a flexible curtain hung on the inside of said opening.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK M. HARRISON. J AMES W. KELLEY.

Witnesses:

S. W. BATES, E. G. FRANK. 

